In recent years healthy cooking has become more popular than ever. Health problems such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, etc. have become more and more prevalent. My cookware apparatus addresses these issues by reducing produced carcinogens if used on a typical charcoal or gas grill, and by reducing fats if used with another heat source, such as an oven.
Cast-iron cookware has been very popular for well over a century. It is heavy, durable, and simply doesn't wear out. Many fine chefs use cast-iron due its ability to retain heat, as well as having uniform heat. Due to its superior heat retention, cast-iron has a greater ability than lighter weight metals to sear or brown meat. The problem with thin lightweight metals is that they quickly lose temperature when cold meat is applied, which would prevent cookware made from this type of material from searing or browning meat. An example of such cookware would be U.S. Pat. No. 7,340,994 to Bruno. The Bruno patent is manufactured from thin sheet metal. Actually the intent, or “spirit”, of the Bruno patent is to cook small and delicate foods and prevent them from falling through the sheet-metal grate and into the grill. The same can be said of the following patents as well: U.S. Pat. No. 4,510,855 to Avner, U.S. Pat. No. 5,983,786 to Brown, U.S. Pat. No. 5,974,953 to Messerli. A related U.S. Pat. No. 4,176,591 to Power, is a thin sheet metal pizza pan.
Some fine restaurants cook steaks, as well as other kinds of meat, on a cast-iron griddle instead of over a fired grill. Unlike a fired grill, a griddle preserves more juices, marinades, etc., and doesn't dry out the meat like a fired grill.
On a commercial griddle, which is typically quite large, the excess fats and juices flow away, or can be pushed away with a spatula or other cooking utensil. This allows the chef to put a good sear on the meat without overcooking the middle. The problem with a typical griddle intended for home use is that it is too small to disperse the fats and juices without creating a mess or fire hazard.
Most typical skillets, and some griddles, have sides on them. Due to the fat content of most meat, by the time the cooking process is underway in a typical skillet, or on a typical griddle, you have more of a boiling effect, instead of a searing effect. The problem with this boiling effect is that it causes the meat to retain most of the unhealthy fat, which is a major contributor to obesity, as well as heart and cardiovascular disease.
Another popular way to cook meat is with a traditional charcoal or gas grill, which exposes the meat to direct heat or flame. However, this method can dry out meat by the time a good brown sear is achieved, or more particularly, by the time the meat is considered thoroughly cooked by many people.
Additionally, in recent years it has been determined that cooking on a typical charcoal or gas grill causes some meats to produce carcinogens, such as Heterocyclic amine, HCA's, and Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, PAHs. A simple Internet search can produce numerous medical articles documenting the various carcinogens produced with traditional grill cooking.